Split Personality
by Myra109
Summary: After a mishap with a spell, Oliver accidentally splits Percy into five people. "Now, I know what it's like to have a twin!" "Actually, you have four." "I don't know how Fred and George do it. My twins annoy me." "Probably because they're technically still you... just different parts of you." AU


Hello! Just a Percy-centric oneshot with lots of Percy/Oliver FRIENDSHIP and Weasley FAMILY bonding. No romance in this one, and no warnings either. Appropriate for all ages!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the characters, or anything that you recognize.**

* * *

"Oliver, the spell is not that hard. You're just psyching yourself out," Percy stated. "Now, aim your wand at the Rubik's Cube."

"What if I, like… set it on fire?" Oliver asked, fiddling with his wand nervously.

Oliver was typically a confident person, but that was mostly on the Quidditch Pitch or even when it came to his social life, for the most part. When it came to schoolwork, Oliver doubted himself at every turn. Percy was the exact opposite- he was confident in his schoolwork, but his social life was always crumbling, and Percy playing sports was a disaster waiting to happen! That's just one of the examples of how Percy Weasley and Oliver Wood, who are polar opposites, balance each other out.

"Auguamenti," Percy answered.

"What if I melt it?"

"Then we'll get another one!"

"What if I turn it into a rabbit?"

Percy laughed. "Well, you'll have some extra credit for Transfiguration, at least! You might even impress Flitwick enough to give you an O, even if you didn't exactly do the assignment! Now, come on, Oliver! Pretend it's a Quaffle and knock it out of the park!"

"Two different sports, Percy! Two different sports…"

"Anyway, come on! It can't hurt to try!"

"Oh, it can hurt a lot!"

"Aren't you supposed to be the daring one? Do it, Oliver!"

"But-"

"Oliver, we don't have all day!"

"But-"

"Do it, Wood. I am losing my patience!"

"All right!" Oliver exploded before aiming his wand at the rubix cube and shouting, "Et partitus!"

The spell missed the rubik's cube by centimeters and hit the mirror behind it. The bright blue light was reflected off of the glass surface and hit Percy Weasley square in the chest, knocking him onto his back. Then, there were several flashing lights that left Oliver seeing spots, and the athlete stumbled back and fell onto Percy's bed, rolling over the mattress and hitting the floor on the other side.

"Perce," he muttered after his vision started to return, and he stumbled to his feet. "Are you o…" Oliver stretched out the o sound, dropping the rest of the word as his jaw hit the floor. "Oh, no."

"What?" Percy-at least Oliver thought it was Percy- asked, standing. "What ha… oh, no."

There was not one Percy in the room. There were five.

"Oliver," Percy- the first and only one to speak so far- muttered. "You see the other mes, too, right?"

Oliver nodded. "I'm glad I'm not the only one."

The other Percys groaned as they struggled to their feet and brushed themselves off. The original Percy discretely edged around them to stand beside Oliver.

The first Percy Oliver noticed was… the exact opposite of the original Percy. He was dressed in all black. Black jeans, ripped at the knees, a black T-shirt, and a leather jacket. His red hair was slicked back, so that the curls were no longer wild, but straight and shining with hair gel. He wasn't wearing his glasses, and he was wearing sneakers. His face was painted with an expression that basically read _I don't care._

The second Percy Oliver noticed was wearing a lot of colors. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt, splattered with multiple colors of paint, and blue jeans. He was wearing white sneakers covered in cheerful doodles, and his hair didn't even look brushed. He was wearing his horn rimmed glasses, but they slid down his nose more often than usual, and he would scrunch up his nose instead of just pushing them back to their original position. He looked rather comical, actually, which was also the exact opposite of Percy. In addition, he was the only Other-Percy that wasn't sixteen. This Percy couldn't have been more than four or five.

The third Percy Oliver noticed looked exactly like Percy in terms of overall appearance. But the guy wore an expression of maturity and maybe even some arrogance; he was basically the picture of a responsible person, the kind teachers and parents trusted. He looked a lot like Percy did, unless you got to know Percy (like Oliver had) and learned some other traits the Prefect possessed.

The fourth Percy Oliver noticed looked like Percy did outside of school. A fairly nice shirt and spotless, ironed jeans. A nice outfit, too nice for a teenager during summer (when most teens wear lazy clothes or old clothes they can get muddy) but not one that you would wear to a job interview, if you know what I mean. He didn't look that much different, although he didn't seem as uptight as usual.

The final Percy, the original Percy, looked just like he had before the spell mishap, and his jaw was hanging wide open.

Oliver reached over and pushed Percy's jaw up, closing his mouth, and Percy and Oliver slowly turned to face each other.

Then, they screamed.

This caused the other Percys to scream, except for goth Percy, who rolled his eyes.

The door opened.

"What happened?" Fred asked, but before he could see the Percy clones, Oliver and Percy shoved them back outside and leaned against the door to prevent the twins from entering or the clones from exiting.

"Nothing!" Oliver yelled.

"Oh, now we know something's up," George stated. "Come on. Cough it up."

"Well, we were practicing the dividing spell on a rubik's cube," Percy began.

Oliver frowned. Was Percy really going to tell them the truth?

"And Oliver succeeded at first by diving the cube into a bunch of tiny pieces… but then the pieces turned into rabbits," Percy lied.

"What?" Fred questioned.

"When I get nervous, I turn things into rabbits," Oliver explained.

"So now there are, like, fifty rabbits in our dorm room," Percy stated.

Oliver glanced at the floor and frowned as a purple light shone from inside the room.

"And we should probably go take care of that," Oliver told the twins before opening the door.

A dozen rabbits leaped out of the room and hopped down the stairs, where they heard several shocked exclamations.

Oliver and Percy glanced at each other. What the…

"We thought you were lying," Fred chuckled. "We'll catch the rabbits for you, but only because this is a picture moment!" Fred summoned a camera from the twins' own dorm room and bolted down the stairs.

"What the…" Percy muttered as he opened the door.

Their jaws dropped. Around fifty rabbits occupied their dorm room with the other Percys in the midst of it.

"What happened?" Oliver exclaimed. "Who did this?"

"I did!" Colorful Percy exclaimed, and Oliver and Percy turned to see him hanging upside down on Percy's bed, kicking his legs and fidgeting like a child (well, he looked like a child, so I guess that made sense). "You wanted fifty rabbits in here!"

"Not literally!" Percy stressed.

"He's your inner child," Percy- the one that looked like Percy when he wasn't in school- explained. "He has a hard time telling literally from figuratively, and he doesn't understand sarcasm, irony, or when someone is lying. He's as innocent as a three year old… or maybe a five year old. I don't know most of the time."

"So… who are you?" Oliver asked, shutting the door behind them.

"I'm Percy!" three of them exclaimed while goth Percy muttered, "Perce."

"We're parts of your personality," the one that looked like normal Percy explained, stiffly. "I'm your responsibility."

"I'm your inner child!" colorful Percy giggled.

"I'm your protective nature, the one that protects our friends and family when necessary," the one that looked like Percy when he wasn't in school told them.

"What are you?" Original Percy asked, pointing to the goth Percy.

"I'm many things," he stated, mysteriously.

"That doesn't answer my question," Percy pointed out.

"It wasn't supposed to."

"You have a bad attitude," Oliver said.

"I'm supposed to," the goth mumbled. "I _am_ your bad attitude and a very well-restrained troublemaker."

"So what do we call all of you? We can't call all of you Percy," Original Percy pointed out.

"I'll be Percival," Responsible Percy said.

"I'm Daniel," Protective Percy stated. "I've always wanted that to be my name."

"I'm Perce," goth Percy mumbled, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"I'm Ignata!" Colorful Percy cheered.

"Why?" Oliver questioned.

"That was our nickname when we were younger," Original Percy replied. "Our middle name is Ignatius. Middle names were kind of our thing back then. Bill was Art, short for Arthur, and Charlie was Keith."

Oliver nodded. "I see."

"I'm bored!" Ignata wailed.

"Here. Draw a kitty," Daniel suggested, handing him some parchment and a quill.

Ignata cheered and started drawing.

"How do we fix this?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know, but I know someone who can find out," Percy said. "Stay here and make sure they don't leave."

Percy exited the room and ran down the stairs before finding himself standing beside Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, who were doing their homework in the Common Room.

"I need some help," Percy hissed.

Ron jumped. "With what?"

"Something very important. To my dorm room. You won't believe me unless you see it for yourself," he whispered before the trio followed him up the stairs and into the dorm room (I think girls can go into the boys dorm, but boys can't go into the girls. Rowling wasn't very specific about that, so…)

Ron rubbed his eyes. "Am I the only one seeing four Percys?"

"Don't worry, Ron. We see them, too," Harry said.

"What happened?" Hermione demanded.

"Oliver and I were practicing the dividing spell on a rubik's cube. When Oliver cast the spell, he missed the rubik's cube and hit the mirror, which deflected the spell, which then hit me, and then this happened. Apparently, they're different parts of my personality," Percy explained. "That's Daniel, my protective nature. That's Percival, my responsibility. That's Ignata, my inner child, and that's… Where's Perce?"

Perce was gone.

Oliver's eyes widened. "How did he get out?"

"I probably should've warned you that he's a master of stealth," Daniel muttered. "Wait… Perce is loose. Perce is loose! This is not a drill!"

The three clones started running around in a panic. Ignata yelped and hid under the bed while Percival stiffened, noticeably, and tried to calm down Ignata and Daniel. Daniel, on the other hand, ran over to Ron and shoved the confused second year behind him.

"What's wrong? What's so bad about Perce being loose?" Percy demanded.

"Everything!" Ignata cried from under the bed.

"What he said," Percival agreed.

"Must protect family," Daniel muttered, flatly, sounding almost like a robot reciting its mission or purpose.

"Why is it so bad?" Harry asked.

"Perce is a troublemaker," Percival answered. "He's basically the opposite of the Percy you normally see. Ever since we were ten, we've been restraining Perce, so that we could be seen as responsible and not troublemakers like Fred and George. Well, over the years, Perce went from a mischievous prankster to a troublemaker- the _dark_ kind of troublemaker. The kids that sell drugs and bully people for the fun of it. The more we tried to restrain him, the worse he got. And now he's free and rogue! If we don't find him soon, who knows what could happen? We could lose our Prefect badge; we could lose the few friends we do have; we could get mixed up in a bad crowd; we could get expelled! Or killed, whichever comes first."

"Basically, Perce is unpredictable," Daniel said. "When we were ten, he was basically like Fred and George."

"Admittedly, I wasn't very smart when I decided to restrain him," Percival confessed. "It's like air in a paper bag. The pressure builds up until it pops. We put Perce under so many restraints, that the pressure turned him into the goth, rude version you saw. And there's no telling what he'll do now that he's no longer restrained."

"Well, we have to find him!" Daniel said.

"Not you three!" Oliver pointed out. "If somebody sees more than one of you in the same place… well, there'd be a lot of questions we couldn't answer."

"All right," Daniel stated.

"But I'm bored," Ignata, who had crawled out from under the bed, groaned.

"Blocks!" Daniel cheered, and he used his wand to make a collection of blocks appear.

"Blocks!" Ignata reiterated, and he ran over to play.

"He is easily entertained," Harry commented.

"We always were," Daniel agreed.

"Until we caged him, too," Percival added, sadly.

Percy blinked and faced Oliver before things could get awkward.

"All right, Oliver and I will go find Perce. Harry, you guard the door and make sure no one comes in and no one goes out until we get back. No one can know about these other Percys. Ron, you stay in here and watch them. Hermione, you go to the library or ask Flitwick and just try to figure out how to undo this."

"Move out!" Oliver exclaimed.

Percy and Oliver exited the room, shortly followed by Hermione.

"Now, I know what it's like to have a twin!" Percy commented as they walked down the stairs.

"Actually, you have four," Oliver pointed out.

"I don't know how Fred and George do it. My twins annoy me."

"Probably because they're technically still you... just different parts of you," Oliver said as Hermione headed towards the library, leaving the two of them behind.

"Now, where would he go?" Percy asked.

"Where would _you_ go?" Oliver demanded.

"What?" Percy asked as they climbed out of the portrait hole.

"Well, isn't he just a part of you? Think: where would ten year old you go?"

Percy scratched his head. "I'd probably go wherever Fred and George were. Believe it or not, we used to be best friends."

"Well, the twins are always with Lee Jordan. Alicia, have you seen Lee?" Oliver called to Alicia as she prepared to say the password and enter the Common Room.

"Um, I think he's getting yelled at by McGonagall. He and the twins pulled some prank again."

"Thanks!"

Alicia nodded and was about to enter the Common Room when she paused.

"Hey, Percy. I thought you were with them," she said.

"No. How can I be in two different places at once? That's craaaazy," Percy giggled, nervously.

"You're a bad liar," Oliver whispered.

"I know," Percy returned.

"Okay," Alicia muttered, uncomfortably, before walking into the Common Room.

Percy and Oliver glanced at each other for a moment before breaking into a sprint.

* * *

"Mr. Weasley, I expected better from you," Professor McGonagall said, and Oliver and Percy glanced around the corner to see the teacher glaring at Perce, Lee, and the twins.

"You did?" Fred asked, quizzically.

"Not you. Your older brother," Professor McGonagall corrected.

"Oh, we did, too," George agreed. "We don't know what's gotten into him. He suddenly became fun."

"Still, experimenting possibly hazardous prank candies on first years? Detention for all of you."

"You think that deserves detention? Hah, you should've seen that prank war the twins and I had, Mi-" Perce began.

Before Perce could finish the word Minnie, Oliver bolted over and clapped a hand over Perce's mouth while Percy remained hidden around the corner.

"I'm so sorry, Professor McGonagall," Oliver said. "He's going through a phase, and he's just really not himself. I apologize deeply for him, and I assure you it won't happen again."

"It had better not. If it does, it will be your Prefect badge," she said before walking away. "Detention on Friday," she called over her shoulder before disappearing down the hall.

"What has gotten into you?" George questioned Perce.

"I woke up and saw the truth: life is short, so we'd better have fun now. Oh, and trying to cage the inner troublemaker never ends well," Perce explained.

"You saw the light, dear brother!" Fred began and hugged Perce, who frowned.

"They're loose!"

Oliver, Perce, the twins, and Lee spun around to see Ron and Harry running in their direction.

"Percy's twins are loose!" Harry cried as they skidded to a halt.

"What?" Oliver demanded.

"Percy's twins are loose! Harry and I kind of got distracted, and Ignata ran past us, and Percival and Daniel ran after him, and then Harry and I lost them somewhere between the portrait and the Charms hallway," Ron blurted.

"What are you talking about?" Fred asked.

"At least we caught Perce," Oliver said, and he began to gesture to Perce, but the troublemaker was gone. "Where'd he go?"

"We lost him again?" Percy muttered as he appeared beside Oliver.

The twins and Lee jumped as a totally differently dressed Percy walked up to them, and he seemed to have a different attitude as well.

The four of them seemed to have forgotten the twins and Lee were there.

"So now there are four Percys roaming the school?" Percy demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Fred asked.

The four kids turned to face the three pranksters.

"Uh…"Percy muttered before covering his mouth with his hand and mumbling into it. "Mmmhhmehmemse."

"Oliver messed up a spell and accidentally split you into five different parts, and the four other yous are basically other parts of your personality, and you have no idea how to reverse it, so Hermione is doing research, but now you've lost them all, and if someone sees more than one of you in one place, it could mean chaos?" George stated.

"You got all of that from mumbling?" Harry asked.

"No," Fred responded. "We got it from his tapping," he said, pointing to Percy's fingers, which were tapping against his leg.

"He's using the Weasley code," George explained.

"9-7-7-3-5-1-5-5-2-4-2-7-pause-2-2-3-9-4-clap-5-7-2-5-7-2-2-1-5-4-clap," Fred said, quickly and smoothly, which was very impressive. "Basically translates to George's explanation."

"I'm so confused," Oliver said.

"Don't over think it," Percy said.

"Over think it?" Oliver murmured.

"Anyway, surprisingly, this is not the weirdest thing to happen in our family," Fred stated. "What can we do to help?"

"Not the weirdest thing?" Lee said. "You're just accepting this?"

"In our family, it's go with the flow or drown. What can we do?" George asked.

"Um, there are seven of us and four Percys. Fred, George, find Perce. He's the one dressed in all black. Harry, Ron, find Daniel, the protective one; he'll be more likely to go with a sibling. Lee, find Percival. He looks exactly like me and will probably be enforcing rules, so just look for the place with the most rule breakers. You'll probably find him there. Oliver and I will find Ignata," Percy said, firmly.

"Move out, men!" Oliver announced before they each ran in separate directions.

"Where would Ignata go?" Percy asked.

"Well, think: where would younger you go?" Oliver said.

"I'd probably be looking for my parents or my big brothers, but they're not at this school, so where would I go?"

"Well, where would Bill or Charlie go?"

Percy contemplated that for a moment before an _aha_ moment hit him at the same time as Oliver, and they shared an ecstatic glance.

"The Quidditch Pitch!" they yelled in tandem before breaking into a run in that direction.

Sure enough, the four year old boy was sitting in the center of the pitch with tears streaming down his face.

"Where's Billy and Charlie?" he wailed upon seeing Oliver and Percy.

"We'll take you to them," Oliver said, softly. "But you have to come with us."

Ignata cheered, immediately happy, and he dove into Oliver's arms. The Keeper lifted him up with the boy's legs around his waist and his skinny arms around Oliver's neck. Oliver placed a supportive hand on the small boy's back and started walking towards the school.

"Percy?" the small boy mumbled, and the older version of Percy glanced at the child version.

"What is it, Ignata?" Percy asked.

"Why don't you ever let me play?"

Percy frowned. "What do you mean, Ignata?"

"Well, when we're all together, you never let me play. Percival says you 'caged' me, whatever that means. And I've been looking for Teddy for years, but I can't find him. Do you know where he is?" Ignata asked, his eyes sparkling with hope.

Percy's mouth hung open as he realized what Ignata was talking about.

Shortly after getting his first Hogwarts letter, Percy had decided that he was too old for childish things, that he needed to grow up. He gave his toys to the younger kids or to charity or in some cases, put them in a trunk in the back of his closet. He hadn't gotten the trunk out since he was eleven; that was where he'd placed his favorite teddy bear.

"All I could find were books," Ignata said, dejected. "But I don't want to read. I want to play. Will you let me?" The hope crept into his gaze again.

Percy blinked. His inner child… he really hadn't been in touch with that in a while. Maybe it would do him some good to have some fun every once in a while.

Percy nodded. "I will, Ignata."

"Yay!" Ignata cheered, clapping his hands while Oliver and Percy chuckled.

"Now, you have to be very quiet," Percy whispered as they arrived at the doors to the school. "Do you want to play the quiet game? First one to make noise, loses. Remember?"

"I love that game!" Ignata whispered.

Percy laughed. "Because we always won. Our siblings couldn't be quiet for three seconds. Anyway, ready… set… start."

Ignata snapped his lips closed, and the teens slipped in through the front door. Oliver carried Ignata while Percy glanced around corners and through doorways to ensure no one was there to see Ignata.

They returned to their dorm room without too much of a hassle, although there were a few close calls and trying to get through the Common Room was a nightmare. Percy had cast an invisibility spell on them, but trying to weave through the crowded common room without making any noise was extremely hard.

Percy and Oliver slid into the dorm room to find Percival sitting on Percy's bed and reading a book while Lee kept a sharp eye on him. Daniel was lying on his stomach on the floor, laughing and talking with Ron… and Ginny?

"He wouldn't come back unless we brought her," Harry explained while Oliver sat little Ignata on the floor and handed him some paper to draw on.

"So the only ones we're waiting on are Perce and the twins," Percy said.

"We're here," George announced as he and Fred stepped into the room, dragging a tied up Perce behind them. His lips were moving to form what were probably not kind words, but no sound came out, so that meant he had a silencing spell on him.

"We did get a lot of weird looks, though," Fred said.

"Now, all we need to do is wait for Hermione," Percy said.

"Who has arrived!" Hermione said as she entered the room.

"Are you people waiting on your cue or something?" Oliver muttered. "That was some oddly good timing."

Hermione nodded. "Anyway, I talked to Professor Flitwick, telling him the question came up in a book and avoiding too many specifics. He said that if the dividing spells hits a human, it divides them into different personality traits."

"We got that," Ron pointed out.

"Yes, but the only way to bring them back together is to get them back into sync."

"What does that mean?" Oliver asked.

"Well, Professor Flitwick said the spell divides the person into at least one dominant trait and at least one 'caged' trait. A caged trait is like-"

"A forgotten or unused or repressed trait," Percy answered.

"Exactly," Hermione replied. "So the only way to bring you all back together is by balancing out the traits, recognizing the caged ones. Which ones are caged?"

Percy glanced from Daniel to Perce to Ignata.

"I think I know," he murmured. "Everyone except for the other mes, Hermione, and Oliver, could you leave?"

They all nodded and exited the room. Oliver cast a muffling spell on the door and leaning against it while Percy first turned to…

"Daniel?"

Daniel stood. "I wouldn't say I'm caged, but I'm close to it. Remember what we agreed on when we went to Hogwarts? Bill and Charlie were always so busy, and the other kids were afraid that we would be too busy to remember them."

"Being the middle kid means you can't forget the little ones," Percy answered. "And that's exactly what happened."

"Yeah. Ron nearly died last year. Ginny's been so isolated and sick looking this year. You're always yelling at them, the twins especially, but maybe the twins get into trouble because that's the only time you're around. Remember when we used to be best friends? Those were the days. Now, you've been so caught up in your studies and enforcing the rules that your family and even your friends have taken a back seat in your life, and it shouldn't be like that."

Percy nodded. "Thanks."

"Protect them with everything you have. Be there for them. Whatever you do, Percival Weasley, don't forget about the little ones. Promise me that, and I won't put up a fight in coming back together."

Percy nodded. "I promise."

Daniel smiled, and Hermione muttered a spell. There was a flash of light, and Daniel was gone when it faded.

Percy turned to Percival.

"I'm easy," Percival laughed. "I'm your dominate trait. But before I go, I do have to tell you one thing."

"What?"

"You may not know it, but deep down, you're thinking about how much you'll miss us. Just remember: we're never really gone. We're always there, and we always will be. Just don't forget to remember us."

Percy nodded, and Hermione repeated the spell. Another flash of light, another Percy gone.

Percy turned to Perce, waving his wand and removing the silencing spell and untying him.

"I'm not going to be that easy," Perce snarled.

"I don't expect you to be. I've been the most hard on you," Percy said. "You used to be my… fun side. Then I went to Hogwarts and caged you. Over time, you became this."

"Exactly," Perce said.

Percy walked over to his trunk and pulled out a scrap book, handing it to Perce and flipping it open to the first page.

"Do you remember this?"

Perce stared at the picture of the Weasley kids degnoming the garden.

"Yeah. We pulled a prank on Mum and Dad, and they made us do extra chores for nearly a month," Perce said.

"Flip the page," Percy said and watched as Perce did that. "Do you remember that?"

Perce stared at the picture of the family standing in their destroyed back yard. They were laughing, and… was that a kangaroo in the background?

"Yeah. That was Ginny's seventh birthday. The twins cast a chaos spell."

Perce flipped the page again, and the smallest spark of humor twinkled in his eyes, pushing away some of the bitterness.

It was a photograph of Percy and the twins standing across the street from their scary neighbor's house. The twins had dared one another to retrieve something from her house and come out alive. Percy, worried for the safety, had followed them, and they'd nearly gotten caught by their terrifying neighbor, but they'd managed to escape with their lives. Barely.

"That was a fun day," Perce said.

"If we die, I am going to spend the rest of our afterlife reminding you that this was your fault," Percy quoted. "And Fred said-"

"That's okay. I wouldn't mind having company as a ghost," Perce answered before flipping the page again.

"That was the year we discovered Santa Claus was real," he stared at the picture of all the kids surrounded by brand new Quidditch equipment, which their parents didn't buy.

"That was the year we were the mastermind behind a prank," he said, gazing at the picture of a chaotic, messy living room, littered with pranks.

"You said I repressed you, and I did. I won't deny that, but I did bring you out a few times," Percy said as Perce flipped the page to reveal a picture of fourteen year old Percy, the twins, Ron, and Ginny soaking wet.

"I tried to cage you, but when Ron ended up pushing me off of a building and into the water below, I ended up having a lot of fun," Percy said.

Perce flipped the page again and couldn't suppress a smile upon seeing a poster that read No Longer Allowed In The Great Hall.

"That was the day we defended our siblings by pranking some bullies and got multiple foods banned from the Great Hall."

"It was so worth it, though," Perce commented.

"It really was."

Perce flipped the page again and couldn't fight back a laugh.

The picture displayed Percy with his features transfigured to look like multiple siblings. He had Fred and George's eye color; a clip on earring that was identical to Bill's; a body type that resembled Charlie's; Ron's button nose (with a few spots of dirt); and Ginny's long hair.

"That was the day we covered for all of our siblings. It did not end well," Percy said.

"It did not," Perce agreed.

There was a moment of silence.

"If you promise to have some fun every once in a while… I won't fight you on coming back together. Don't repress me anymore. I'd rather be fun and mischievous than whatever this is," Perce said, gesturing to his dark and somewhat scary appearance.

Percy nodded. "I promise."

"All right," Perce said. "Hermione, I'm ready."

Hermione cast the spell, and Perce vanished.

"I think I'm going to miss you the most," Percy admitted, rubbing Ignata's hair affectionately.

"I'm never really gone, but will you please let me play?" Ignata begged.

"I'm going to find Teddy as soon as we go home for Easter," Percy promised.

"Yay!" Ignata cheered, hugging the older version of Percy.

Hermione cast the spell, and only one Percy was left standing in that room.

"I'm going to miss them," Percy confessed.

Oliver smiled. "Well, remember what they said… They're never really gone."

Percy paused before nodding.

"You're absolutely right."

* * *

The Easter holidays rolled around, and Percy dragged the trunk out of his closet and coughed as dust floated through the air. The trunk looked pale and dirty from nearly six years of not seeing the sun.

He opened the trunk and stared at the contents of the chest.

Old blocks, drawings he'd done, some crayons and markers and even finger paints, picture books, puzzles…

And Teddy.

Percy picked up the blue teddy bear, which was in good condition and somehow not dusty or dirty after being in a trunk for six years.

"I've missed you," Percy whispered before hugging the bear to his chest and staring at the other toys.

It felt good… to just be a kid for a while. Technically, Percy still was a kid, and he had a right to play and have fun without constantly worrying about school and work and responsibilities.

"Don't grow up too fast," his parents had told him before he got on the train for his first year of Hogwarts.

Percy had done just that. He'd lost who he was. He'd lost his inner child, his inner troublemaker, the majority of his protective nature…

All because he'd grown up too fast.

"Percy, we're pulling a prank on Bill and Charlie when they come home," Fred said, poking his head into the room.

"Wanna help?" George asked.

Percy grinned. "I wouldn't miss it."

Fred and George laughed and exited the room while Percy followed.

Percy had wasted nearly six years of his childhood. It was time to make up for lost time.

After all, he had a right to just be a kid. We all have an inner child, and so many of us lose touch with it over time, but Percy had promised not only Ignata, but also Daniel, Perce, and Percival, that he wouldn't forget or lose who he was.

And that was one promise he intended to keep.

* * *

_A lot of the events referenced in this story (Ginny's 7th birthday, the twins and Percy sneaking into their neighbor's house, etc.) are all from chapters in one of my other fanfics, Weasley Insanity (Read At Your Own Risk!), so if you liked this story, be sure to check that out._

_Why Daniel? I have no idea; it was just the first name that popped into my head._


End file.
